According to a press release, ConcertTickets.com has been put up for sale by Alan Gould, president and CEO.
“According to the owner revenues generated varies from time to time, but in the best year since it started in 2003, the site made $120,000 in advertising money, and in the worst year it made $50,000.””Revenue changes all the time because it depends on how well the site is indexed by Google, because that’s how advertisers find us,” Gould said. “Earnings also change by season. From February through August, it’s concert season and more tickets are sold domestically at than any other time. The economy also matters a lot.”
ugliest site on earth, good luck with it.
I am going to take a wild guess that $50K was this past year.
Holy crap I agree with that ‘ugly site’ comment. It looks like a class project from a Freshman class.
this site could have made more money if they had spent few thousands to redesign and code it.
Websites don’t have to be pretty to produce revenue. We’ve found that the “prettier” the site, the less it produces.
“Revenue changes all the time because it depends on how well the site is indexed by Google, because that’s how advertisers find us”
Essentially saying that they don’t get many type-ins.
Its really sick the potential this domain has and they are just completely ignorant on how to effectively monetize it.
“Websites don’t have to be pretty to produce revenue. We’ve found that the “prettier” the site, the less it produces.”
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There’s a difference between ‘clean’ and ‘cluttered’, just as there’s a difference between ‘good’ and ‘bad’. Our experiences are much like yours- simple, clean sites are cash machines while frilly exercises in ornate web design might be fun to look at, but under-perform. “Pretty” to buyers = simple, not gaudy and busy.
That site is a lead generating machine, not a merchant. Agree it could probably streamline it and work on user experience, but some people are confusing what it is with what it isn’t.
Also, he openly says his earnings are contingent on serp- and this is a bang-on term that presumably gets a meaningful amount of type-ins. There is no ‘relying’ on type-ins in the year 2010 and going forward, unless you’re content earning 1/100th of what the site might earn if developed and ranked high.
This may be the ugliest site in town, but every link is an affiliate link – so as long as you end up on the site and buy something – chances are they are making money.
When you have a site that people are visiting for a clear reason – get them off your site as fast as you can so that can accomplish their goal – and get paid in the process.
MHB,
Is the 50-120K, top line gross revenue or NOI? In your opinion, what kind of “multiple” of gross or net earnings would you use to calculate the valuation? What do you think the asking price is or will sell for?
Thanks.
Peter
Internet
I have a call with the owner today, will have more info later including pricing
Looking at TicketStub.com (and traffic domains to it like TheaterTickets.com) , Ira Zoot has done a very professional job in building that model and presentation – a lot of his effort shows – plus a first class hard working business guy if you every have a chance to meet him.
Ira has likely built good will (repeat customers) with TicketStub.com 20x beyond a more intuitive ConcertTickets.com – a lesson we all need to realize for those of us who rely solely on the intuitive nature of our domains for our revenue.
Maybe if Ira picks up on this he can chime in with a comment.
Brian
Had the pleasure of meeting Ira at TRAFFIC Miami, smart guy hard working as you said.
I will have more info on this domain concerttickets.com later today
@BrianWick – +100 Great points.
Thanks Brian …. appreciate the kind words. This site has some pretty big potential if it was being run as something other than primarily a link farm. This is a stellar generic ( I own the singular 🙂 ) it does generate income selling the page links and he does have some affiliate links in there which should be generating some income as well. On the other hand there is some benefit to doing it as they have here. They get paid the link rates for sure. Actual sales can run hot an cold if the site hasn’t put work into building client trust. Most domainers aren’t interested in putting the time and effort into building the site and brand. It would be a loss not to trademark this and build the brand. Kicks the business valuation way up.
For me I have taken a different route than most affiliates and run my site as a business were I interact with customers where needed. I also do my best to keep the visitors on my site wanting to funnel them to the event they want and purchase tickets there. When there are as many links to different sites … competitors it is encouraging the visitors to “shop”. If concerttickets.com was built out as a dedicated sales site with some good content … as well as adding options to find tickets other than concert with a bit of time it could be a huge money maker.
This is a site that I have considered making an offer on in the past. It is still something that I would really love too own but I suppose that would all depend on their asking price. 🙂 I am currently working on a totally unrelated project … an edutainment media site for k-8 with a partner that monopolizing my time. Any one who ends up buying concerttickets.com is going to have their hands full if they want to build it out the most effective way.
Anyhow … out the door for a bit. I will be interested in seeing what the asking price is going to be and if it sells who it is that buys it. Keeping it the way it is for a domainer could be a steady income stream but it is leaving so much on the table. So it will be interesting to see how people value the site.
If I can add anything else let me know … I have a pretty deep understanding of this niche.
“Ira has likely built good will (repeat customers) with TicketStub.com 20x beyond a more intuitive ConcertTickets.com ”
Why do you sound so sure?
What makes people return? question for both Iran/Brian
(non sarcastically)
Nice work Ira… if I remenber correctly you have advocated developing early doaminsate) for many years ,way before it became an ” almost neccesity”
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on the comment about the uglier the site the more revenue it makes…
Funny..I undestand the best producing parking page at Sedo is the “simple” one.
(no pics and garden variety ads)
“Ira has likely built good will (repeat customers) with TicketStub.com 20x beyond a more intuitive ConcertTickets.com ”
>> Why do you sound so sure?
Domo … Brian and I got too hang out down in Miami and had some good conversations. I don’t really have the time
to go into all the details of getting return customers. But it tales more than a catagory killer domain … it takes work to build your brand and get it out there for people too see, hear in conversation, hear from past customers, it takes a good site. It doesn’t need to be fancy … but it has to be easy to find their way around to the tickets they want, it has to be fast, which sometimes is a pain with the feed and new interactive maps. And something I have done for years that most “affiliates” don’t do. Is that I answer the phone myself to do support and sales calls where ever it is possible for
me too do it. Then you need a good relationship with your account rep … which if you do good volume shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Just for starters.
And Domo you have a good memory … I have been talking about developing sites over ppc for many years. I can remember having many a conversation at the first traffic with people about making ppc pages more “site like” and
met with major resistance. That is were so many of the same companies have come too today. There are still some ppc providers that have nice clean very simple pages and they convert well enough. But I think it has a lot to do with what market the domain targets. Some visitors don’t care about content or pretty pictures. They just want to find what they are looking for.
In the end I think there isn’t one perfect solution … but in the case of ticket sales. Perception is EVERYTHING … if people can’t trust your site, if your brand name doesn’t sit right with them, if you don’t “evangelize” ( in Guy kawasaki terms ) then there are loads of other ticket sites they can go too where they can feel safe in spending $200, $500, $1000, $2000. Would you spend money on a site you didn’t feel comfortable with? And lastly … people really like to be able to pick up the phone and be greeted with a friendly voice and a helpful attitude. Something I do my best to be with every call. I appreciate my customers coming and spending $100 or $10k and I let them know it where possible. At this point I have been around like 9 years and I don’t field as many calls as I used too … because I have built a brand and site they can trust.
Anyhow …. there is so much too this. I hope that who ever ends up buying the site takes the time and the effort to build it out and capitalize on it’s targeted nature. If I was able to let loose with the capital to make an offer on it I would. I feel safe to say there is going to be a substantial asking price … I know what it has been offered at in the past and knowing the market as well as I do now. I think it will be higher. ( Don’t ask 🙂 Michael said he will be updating the post after he talks to them … so we all get to wait and see what the selling price is now. )
I’ve talked enough. Good nite … Ira
MB …. any word on the asking price yet?
Ira $500K
Thank you sir … pretty much where I thought they would be.
Ira:
it appears that like almost any other Industry /Commerce venture the appearance of Trustworthiness is very important.
Never looked it that way…
Thanks for sharing , those are hard earned lessons with a cost in time (man-hours) and resources.
Domo